Extreme Training Camp - Parrillo Performance
Extreme Training Camp - Parrillo Performance
Extreme Training Camp - Parrillo Performance
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JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS<br />
Mike Ferguson<br />
to be an also-ran. “My goal had always<br />
been to place at least 5 th in my<br />
class.” In the NPC only the top five<br />
in each division are allowed to pose<br />
on the final night when the champions<br />
are crowned. Before this year’s<br />
show and at John’s insistence Mike<br />
added back the carbs and upped his<br />
caloric intake – dramatically. “I was<br />
eating 6,000 calories a day in the<br />
weeks leading up to the show and<br />
5,000 calories right up to the competition.<br />
In years gone by I would<br />
have competed looking thin, gaunt<br />
and starved; this year<br />
taking John’s advice<br />
I looked full, thick<br />
and powerful. I tell<br />
the world that John<br />
<strong>Parrillo</strong> is my mentor.<br />
As much as I trust<br />
him, for some reason<br />
I started listening to<br />
another nutritional<br />
expert. Call me crazy.<br />
In the end it was<br />
John’s advice that<br />
pushed me through<br />
to the win.” When<br />
we asked Mike what<br />
the biggest single lesson<br />
he had learned in<br />
his long bodybuilding<br />
career he replied<br />
without a second’s<br />
hesitation. “To listen<br />
to John <strong>Parrillo</strong>; John<br />
<strong>Parrillo</strong> is a genius<br />
and I was an idiot to<br />
stray from his approach.”<br />
Mike “carbed up”<br />
prior to prejudging<br />
by eating 350 grams<br />
of dry potatoes every<br />
hour on the hour<br />
for eighteen straight<br />
hours. “I weighed<br />
in on Thursday at 220 pounds: by<br />
the prejudging on Friday I likely<br />
weighed 228-230 and looked way<br />
harder, fuller and thicker. I amazed<br />
myself. It was incredible.” At the<br />
prejudging his wife Marcia told him<br />
she thought he could win. “It never<br />
dawned on me that I could win my<br />
class much less win the overall over-<br />
60 title.” In Mike’s opinion there<br />
were at least two other competitors in<br />
his class that were better. “After the<br />
prejudging I told my wife that there<br />
are two guys that will come in ahead<br />
Photo by Dan Ray<br />
“My goal had always been to place<br />
at least 5 th in my class.”<br />
of me; they were too big compared<br />
to me, and I won’t be able to overcome<br />
their obvious size advantage.<br />
She disagreed. ‘Mike, your legs are<br />
rock hard and they are not that much<br />
bigger than you. You can win this<br />
year.” Mike felt that perhaps that was<br />
wishful thinking until one seasoned<br />
backstage expeditor approached him<br />
and said, ‘Mike, you look fantastic;<br />
your legs are the best in the class and<br />
they are going to make the difference;<br />
stay tight, emphasize your legs<br />
and you can win this year.’<br />
Knowledgeable onlookers that had<br />
been involved in promoting the<br />
show for years approached him and<br />
Photo by Dan Ray<br />
“In the end it was John’s<br />
advice that pushed me<br />
through to the win.”<br />
asked, “Mike – what did you do<br />
different this year? In the past you<br />
always come in lean and stringy.<br />
This year you are a new man,’ Mike<br />
responded, “I told them that I ate<br />
and I ate and I ate and I did exactly<br />
what <strong>Parrillo</strong> told me to do.” After<br />
the prejudging and in the day before<br />
the show, every hour on the hour for<br />
ten straight hours “I ate 255 grams<br />
of dry sweet potato, 100 grams of<br />
chicken and four rice cakes – and no<br />
liquid.” As this grueling procedure<br />
went on, “I would check myself out<br />
in the mirror and note how I was improving:<br />
it was amazing. I thought to<br />
myself, ‘Hey this is going to work!’”<br />
Mike’s first shock was when he was<br />
announced as the class winner. Before<br />
the pose-down to determine the<br />
overall Master’s over-60 winner, he<br />
sized up the middleweight winner<br />
and thought ‘there is no way I can<br />
beat that guy.” During the posedown<br />
for the overall title the head<br />
judge kept telling the class winners,<br />
“Okay men this is very, very close<br />
and we need some more poses.”<br />
When he stood onstage on Saturday<br />
night and was announced as the<br />
overall winner, “I grabbed my head<br />
in disbelief and said to myself, ‘You<br />
have got to be kidding me.’” After<br />
the contest was over and he had a little<br />
time to reflect he thought, ‘I wonder<br />
how many opportunities to dramatically<br />
improve my competitive<br />
placing in years gone by had slipped<br />
through my fingers by not listening<br />
to <strong>Parrillo</strong>.” To make a great weekend<br />
even better, on Friday evening at<br />
the same competition one of Mike’s<br />
students won her Pro Card. In the<br />
weeks leading up to the show Mike<br />
was eating 6,000 calories a day:<br />
meals would consist of 15 ounces<br />
of chicken per meal along with 22<br />
ounces of plain white potatoes and<br />
all the green vegetables he could<br />
eat. Incredibly he would consume<br />
an entire canister of <strong>Parrillo</strong> Hi-Protein<br />
every single day! “I would<br />
wake up twice during the night to<br />
drink huge <strong>Parrillo</strong> shakes.” In addition<br />
to taking in 400-500 grams<br />
of protein each and every day, Mike<br />
would take his <strong>Parrillo</strong> Pills with<br />
each of his meals. “<strong>Parrillo</strong> makes<br />
the best supplements on the market.”<br />
Asked for any final thoughts the<br />
plain spoken Pro Card holder was<br />
adamant: “John <strong>Parrillo</strong> taught me<br />
everything I know!”<br />
John <strong>Parrillo</strong> says:<br />
That last statement by Mike is a<br />
running joke between Mike and<br />
myself. Whenever I get on<br />
Mike for all the “goodwill”<br />
training he does, he reminds me<br />
of all the “goodwill” training<br />
that I have done and says “I’ve<br />
learned everything from you<br />
<strong>Parrillo</strong>”.<br />
Mike is one of the top trainers<br />
in the country. He trains Rich<br />
Franklin as well as a host of other<br />
top MMA professional fighters,<br />
including Jorge Gurgel, Zoila<br />
Frostos-Gargel, Marcus Davis,<br />
Tim Silvia, Joe Riggs and the<br />
King of Cage Middleweight<br />
Champ Billy Asayash. He also<br />
trains powerlifters Cris Smith,<br />
Scott Schaefer and Bruce<br />
Mullins, as well as national level<br />
bodybuilder Drew Smith and<br />
pro bodybuilder Amy Sibcy. He<br />
runs one of this nation’s Premier<br />
hardcore gyms, Powerstation<br />
gym in Middletown Ohio.<br />
Over 30 of his members bench<br />
press over 600 pounds. That’s<br />
hardcore.<br />
Mike is an exceptional person<br />
in all that he does. You can always<br />
count on Mike to be there whether<br />
it be to push you through a killer<br />
workout or to set up the pump room<br />
at the latest bodybuilding contest.<br />
Mike gives and gives and gives and<br />
nobody, I mean nobody deserved<br />
to win his pro card more than Mike<br />
Ferguson. It’s been frustrating<br />
through the years to see Mike train so<br />
hard and diet so strictly only to under<br />
eat the last couple weeks coming into<br />
a contest and not look nearly good as<br />
he could have. If Mike gives me any<br />
credit at all it’s more that I deserve.<br />
Now if we can only get him to work<br />
on his presentation. We love you<br />
Mike. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!<br />
Photo by Dan Ray<br />
“I would check myself out in the mirror<br />
and note how I was improving: it was<br />
amazing. I thought to myself,<br />
‘Hey this is going to work!’”<br />
October 2011 / <strong>Performance</strong> Press 1-800-344-3404 www.parrillo.com www.parrillo.com 1-800-344-3404 <strong>Performance</strong> Press / October 2011